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Politics Adjourned 




^* Since first this subject for heroic song 



Pleased 



me. 



POLITICS ADJOURNED 

BY 

RICHARD D. WARE 

WITH INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
BY 

JOHN MILTON 



-$- 



Amherst Publishing Company 

amherst, n. h. 

1920 



Copyright 1920 

by 

R. D. Ware 



g)CU60l639 



NOV 12 1920 






"Divided empire with Heaven's king I hold 
By thee, and more that half perhaps will reign; 
As man ere long, and this new World, shall know. 



"Thy hope was to have reached 

The height of thy aspiring unopposed." 



"Among those friendly Powers who him received 
With joy and acclamations loud." 



THE OCTOPUS 



"What seemed his head 
The likeness of a kingly crown had on." 



Deep in a cavernous recess 

Within the coral columnate, 

White as the palace of Democracy 

Or tomb of Mogul queen, 

In watchful waiting lurked 

The Octopus. 

No wider vision had the cold dead eyes 

Than that of Self 

And to itself to clutch in strangling tentacles 

All that might yield of power and strength 

Devoured and absorbed 

Into itself. 

Such was the fate of such as came too near 

In trust and confidence. 

When came an enemy 

Out from the cavern swept a tide 

Of fetid ink 

And blinded him. 

And when it cleared away 

Still glowed the cold dead eyes 

Within the darkened solitude where lurked 

The Octopus. 



THE STAMPEDERS 



"To graze the herb all leaving 
Devoured each other; nor stood much in awe of man." 



Now is the sixth long year 

Since first the hungry kine 

From out Potomac came 

To graze upon the fatness 

Of the Promised Land. 

All hungers drive to leadership, 

Of kine, or swine, 

Or men, 

And so it was there came 

First splashing to the shore 

A cross-bred Galloway 

And locoed western steer 

Nigh neck and neck 

But Galloway as Leader of the Herd, 

A Texan dogie making place for him. 

Close at their heels 

A band of Holsteins plunged 

With loud Teutonic bellowings 

At sight of fields to devastate and gorge. 

Then with an interval 

Between this leadership and them 

Came stock of registry, 

Of grade, 

Ungraded, 

And stray mavericks 

Self-branded with the mystic 

"D" 

To give them brotherhood 

And pasturage. 

But all alike 

In famined hungriness. 

Come to the fields 

They fed. 

And as they made the fatness of thern 

Theirs 

It stuck on the thin ribs 

Turned sleek 



And swelled them. 

Till they saw themselves 

Such kine as never were. 

The Locoed One 

Swelled fat too visibly 

With meat and pride 

Filling the eyes of Galloway and Texan 

Far too full of his resplendency, 

And so they horned him 

Outcast 

From the herd 

To starve again. 

This did he not, 

But ranging wide 

Crops close, 

Roaring like caponned sucking dove 

Of War 

And waxes blubberous. 

Then came the howls of wolves 

In neighbor fields. 

"Feed on," the Holsteins lowed. 

"We are not here 

In perpetuity." 

And back into the lush the muzzles went. 

Intent on further fattening. 

Then howled the wolves again 

And up, wild-eyed, the heads 

Through all the herd. 

"Feed on," the Holsteins echoed once agam. 

"They are good wolves. We knew them 

In the Fatherland." 

To which the Galloway and Texan 

Gave their nod 

While Jerseys, Guernseys, and the sturdy Herefords 

Shook their horned heads 

And pawed the ground. 

Once more the wolves ; 

Once more the Holsteins echoed them ; 

"They are three thousand miles away — " 

But even as they spoke 

One wandered from the herd 

Lurched up to it 



And died, 

Hot entrails hanging from the savage gash 

That disemboweled it. 

Then panic-stricken went the herd 

And milled, 

Running in circles 

First this way, then that. 

Until at length 

The Galloway and Texan 

Found their place of leadership 

Behind the hindermost. 

Then did the Herefords first make a stand, 

The Jerseys and the Guernseys at their sides. 

And to the Galloway — 

"Now take you place as Head of Herd 

In front. 

We stand behind you." 

"Nay>" the Holsteins voiced, 

"But watch and wait. 

And waiting 

Feed again." 

And at the Texan's silent nod 

In seconding of this 

His own perturbed and half dazed purposing 

He stumbled to the front a pace or so 

To watch 

With eyes all visionless 

And wait 

On knocking knees. 

This did not serve the purpose 

Of the Channel Islanders 

And Herefords. 

"Out! out in front! 

Prepare and marshal us !" 

And goring back the Holsteir..' 

As they blocked the path 

Thrust out the Galloway, 

Lank Texan by his side. 

Into the open 

That the world might see 

The herd had leadership, 

And then, with figurehead set up. 



lo 



Turned to 

And marshalled for themselves 

The serried phalanx 

Firm against the ravishers. 

Nor did this serve the purpose 

Of the Channel Islanders and Herefords 

For long. 

Though he who stands and waits 

May serve 

At times 

He who waits watchfully 

Proclaims he seeks 

To serve no other purpose than his own. 

That they well knew 

And this beside, 

That every marshalled phalanx is an incubus 

Upon the land that feeds it and itself 

Unless it moves ahead. 

The northern herd with clashing horns 

Went forth, an avalanche 

To serve the mother herd from whence it sprung 

More wanderers came in 

Hamstrung and slashed, 

Bringing the blood smell nearer to the nose, 

And on the wind 

The growing reek of it 

And louder howls 

And groans and strangled cries. 

"Now lead us forth ! 

It may not be 

That we, the fattest and most favored kine 

In all the world. 

Shall stand apart 

And watch the ravishment 

Of all our mother herds. 

We may not seek to still such cries 

With full-mouthed bellowings. 

So lead us with our hoofs and horns 

Against the wolves-" 

"I needs must have a body guard." 

"Then choose." 

And lo, 



II 



The Holsteins were the chosen ones 

To make the pace 

In the adventuring. 

And so the pace was slow 

That still might be the given opportunity 

Of bawling down the howling of the wolves, 

To sit in bovine judgment on the world. 

Nor did this serve the purpose 

Of the Channel Islanders and Herefords, 

And thrusting to one side, contemptuous, 

The Galloway and Texan 

And the Holsteiners, 

Swept on 

And left them in the rear, 

But not ashamed. 

And joined the mother herds 

And those their milk had reared 

Against the wolves. 

Once joined they charged, 

Goring and tossing, trampling under hoof 

Until the horde was shattered into flight. 

Still do the mother herds 

And those reared on their milk 

Pursue, 

And with them at the front 

The fattest and most favored kine 

In all the world. 

Less fat 

In body and in mind 

Than when the charge began. 

And when the work is done 

And they come back again 

And find the Galloway 

Distended with the pride and power 

Of their deeds 

To such a size 

No frog would ever think 

To swell to, — 

The Texan still insatiate. 

The Holsteins sleek and smug, 

These things will serve no purpose 

Of the Channel Islanders and Herefords. 



12 



It well might seem there'd be 

Another Leader of the Herd 

Less fat with power and pride; 

No Texan, 

And that the Holsteiners would join 

The Locoed One, 

Though by presumption 

Wax less blubberous. 



13 



THE WHEEL 



"Nine Days They Fell." 



A people willed that it be free 

Of human rule 

By regal right divine 

And built itself an engine 

For its government. 

No blueprint plan had they who fashioned it 

As in these motor-driven days, 

But standing at the forge 

The engineers 

Hand wrought the parts as they evolved 

From stress and compromise 

And then assembled them 

Till stood their handiwork 

Before the world. 

Power they sought, 

And mindful of the energy 

Of vapors of high temperature 

Suppressed. 

Exampled by the clattering lid 

Of tea kettle, 

Built they two chambers, 

Domed, cylindrical. 

Wherein, 

The while the people stoked below 

With taxes and excise 

The heated airs and gasses 'gendered there 

Commingled each with each 

Should rise 

Translated into Law. 

Then, lest they rise too soon 

And too ungovernable 

As sometimes blew the kettle's lid, 

A group of weights was set with nicety 

As safety valve. 

Assuring Law instead of turbulence. 

With power established thus 

Then to distribute it. 

For this 



14 



A driving wheel was wrought 

To take the power needful to the ends of Law 

And pass it on 

To its machinery. 

At first 

The engine groaned 

And clanked, 

Itself unfound, 

But with some tinkering, 

And added parts. 

And lubricants, 

It worked. 

Then came a time 

It groaned again, 

And straining at the bedplate 

On its bolts 

It nigh upreared 

To fall. 

But with more tinkering. 

And added parts, 

And lubricants. 

It worked again 

More smoothly than before. 

Then went the emperors, kings, peoples of the world 

To War, 

But not the engine, ^ 

Till its people. 

Shamed, 

Laid hands upon its futile energies 

That it should throb at last 

With the hot beating of their hearts. 

And turned the engine over 

From its sluggishness. 

Once turned 

It raced. 

In the domed cylinders 

High pressure strained, 

Jarring the nice adjustment of the weights 

But passing on fresh power 

To the wheel 

To be distributed. 

How high the guage 



15 



It mattered not; 

The wheel whirred 

"More!" 

And took the power to itself 

To whirl in dervish ecstacy, 

Avowed it would outwhirl 

The World ! 

Demand begot supply 

From sheer distress, 

Until one day 

The safety valve said 

"No." 

But all too late. 

Revolving swift with planetary speed 

Up like a rocket, 

Down like the stick of it 

The wheel soared skyward 

In a great parabola 

And fell 

Flat, 

Impotent, 

Upon the world it sought to dominate. 

Whereat 

The people, Ixion unbound, 

Scrapped and made junk of it. 

And wrought another wheel 

Less revolutionary. 



i6 



THE BAKER 

"Who into glory him received 
Where now he sits at the right hand of Bliss." 



Upon a time in France 

In days of stress like these 

There lived a man 

Who called himself 

A King. 

The People 

Crying to him for the bread 

He gave them not 

In gamin argot of the pave 

Nicknamed him 

"Baker." 

His wi"fe, the queen, 

In zeal for wheatless days 

Proclaimed 

"Let them eat cake," 

And earned the brevet of 

"The Baker's wife." 

Then in due course the People's guillotine 

Cut off their heads. 

God send that we 

A People like to that 

Which voiced the Marseillaise 

If left ungagged 

In Freedom's cause 

Have courage to demand another head 

And hear it thud 

Upon the shaking platform of 

"Democracy !" 



17 



THE HOLIDAYS 



"The house of woe and pain!" 



Now does the Nation know at last 

It has a War I 

Now does it see at hand 

The loss and suffering and death 

That comes from sieges, blockades and bombardments 

Engineered by skilful foes afield 

Brought fell upon it by stupidity 

Within. 

At last wide open do the myriad eyes 

Half closed till now, 

Bedazzled by the glow of words 

Proclaimed from time to time 

For later swallowing. 

Look to the battle front 

Where chieftains take their stand 

To see the Nation's leaders there, 

And find them not. 

Behind its might arrayed 

Thin phantom shapes of men 

Twisting and turning, 

Circling hither, yon, 

Like ghosts of whirling dervishes 

Whisper and gibber through the corridors 

Of whited buildings 

Bomb and bullet proof, 

Poor v/ired marionettes with wires cut, 

Lieutenants of a phantom leadership. 

With but one choice, 

The Nation makes it, swift> 

And carries on. 

And with but shades to lead 

Leaps forward on the way 

Its fathers' risen ghosts point out 

To Victory. 



THE LISTENERS 



"He seemed 
For dignity composed and high exploit, 
But all was false and hollow . , . yet he pleased the ear." 



High sat the Prophet President 
Beneath the clouds of War, 
Scions of Hebrew Kings and Judges 
At his feet, 

Magi from Middle West and Solid South 
At either hand, 

The while a blithe Hibernian bard, 
Tumultuous, 

Poised swift skilled fingers o'er the keys 
Expectant on the oracle. 

The banner of the Newest Thing in Freedoms 
Flopped, 

White as a craven's liver 
Or a well bleached skeleton 
Where once the Stars and Stripes had waved. 
While on the velvet carpet to the throne 
Columbia's royal bird, turned Democrat 
And vegetarian. 
With pinfeathers for plumes, 
Pecked at the grape nuts 
Cast by the Master's hand. 
Then roused the Prophet President. 
With frowning gaze 
Into the farthest vacuum 
He fixed the vision that he there beheld 
Upon his mind. 

And with Olympian hem and haw 
And nod 
The Seer spoke- 
As winged the words away 
A German snickered. 
Tongue stuck in his cheek. 
An Englishman drawled 
"Rot." 

A Frenchman shouted 
"Meud !" 



19 



And lost his gift of speech. 

A plain American 

Said "Hell !" 

While all the Hebrew counsellors and Magi 

Leaped from their seats 

With waving hands outspread 

Expounding and explaining 

Black was white. 

Then from the clouds 

The lightning crashed 

And to the Prophet President 

The Hebrew counsellors and Magi clung 

More tightly than before. 

More swiftly swept the fingers of the bard 

Across his instrument 

As from the oracle 

Flowed phrases and philosophies 

Snatched visioned from the void 

Again to be expounded and explained 

With hands a-wave. 

But other hands had laid upon 

The whited shroud 

And hauled it down, 

And in its place unfurled 

The Nation's battle flag. 

And seeing this 

The German looked askance, 

The while the Englishman 

And Frenchman 

And American 

Agreed to say 

"Hear! Hear!" 

"Sublime !" 

"Great Stuff!" 

To all he said 

And carry on the job they had in hand. 



20 



STAND BEHIND THE PRESIDENT 



"Awaiting what command their mighty chief 
Had to impose." 



Long- has the Nation now been urged 

To stand behind the President. 

Long sought the Nation room 

Behind 

To stand upon, 

And edging in at last 

It got a leverage 

And pried him out 

In front. 

Thus shoved out to his place beneath the sua 

He found it to his taste, 

And seeing near at hand 

A pedestal. 

He leaped upon it. 

Bowing, affable. 

To talk the war to death. 

Some, looking upward, dazzled by the sun. 

Thought they beheld another leader there , 

And chorused loud 

The praises of his satellites. 

Some, with clear visioned eyes undimmed, 

Saw presage in his past performances 

And pressed ahead again, 

To serve their country's honor at the front. 

Leaving behind them those who claimed to serve 

By standing still 

To wait upon his nod. 

But with self-exaltation came 

A certain stiffening of spine 

Till bristled it with points belligerent 

As armament of fretful porcupine, 

And these he cast, long range. 

Upon the enemy. 

But glancing from the toughened Teuton hide 

Back home they boomeranged 

And punctured him. 

Until he stood the New Stylites 



21 



On his pedestal. 

So now united does the Nation stand 

Behind him 

On one foot, 

And with the other poised 

Await the Godsent opportunity. 



22 



DR. GARFIELD 



**Such implements of mischief as shall dash 
To pieces and o'erwhelm whatever stands 
Adverse." 



Over There our Sammy, 
Chucking bombs from trenches, 
Takes his fun out on the Hun 
Or busts a bunch of scenery. 

Over Here our Heinie, 
Throwing monkey wrenches, 
Puts three Sundays in a week 
And stops all our machinery- 



23 



THE TEMPLE 



"And higher yet the glorious Temple reared 
Her pile." 



The righteous nations of the world allied 
Embattled to withstand 
Against the brutes of it 
Yet dreamed to raise a temple 
Unto Peace. 
An architect 
On parchments manifold 
Draughted a vision in the clouds 
And builded it, 

Foundation laid on fourteen pediments 
Each one engraved and protestant 
That this and that, 
The seas 

And these and those 
Were free. 

But stress and weight thuswise distributed 
Brought settlings and thrusts 
At fourteen different points. 
And so 

Before the sacred fires were lit 
The temple fell. 

New wisdom gained from out catastrophe 
With pediments reduced to four 
As corner stones 
He builded once again, 
But that most easterly- 
Was rested upon sand 
The rains turned quick. 
And once again the temple 
Tilted, 
Tottered, 
Fell. 

Then on five other corner stones 
New quarried from the everlasting hills. 
Engraved with the most magic formulas 
Known to the adepts of the inner shrine 
Of politics 



24 



He builded once again. 

And came an earthquake rumbling down 

From the Carpathians 

And laid the temple low. 

Then fared the people to a battlefield 

And by a pit 

A shell, Vesuvian, 

Had made its crater, cavernous, 

They built great furnaces 

And in them cast 

The steel and iron from the battlefield. 

Lead of spent bullets, 

Copper of tangled wiring, 

And all the gold and silver in their treasuries. 

And flowed the molten streams 

Into a mighty ingot 

In the pit. 

Then with a pigment of the soil of France 

Turned red indelible 

With the dear blood of their own sons 

They wrote upon the wall of it 

The one Vi^ord 

VICTORY, 

And builded upon this 

The temple stood. 



25 



"UNLESS" 

"For all his tedious talk is but vain boast 
Or subtle shifts conviction, to evade." 



He shot an arrow in the air. 

He either did not know 

Or did not care 

About the use the cunning foe 

Might make of it 

When it should come to earth 

From soaring in the skies, 

But sped it forth. 

Then, panicked, sought to still the startled cries 

Of those who spake of it. 
Till time of need it lay 

Stored with the bombs and shells of poisoned gas 
More deadly than a serpent coiled 
Until there came the day 
When it had come to pass 
The hellish schemes were foiled. 
Then back into his face 
The schemers cast it straight, 
More swift than it had flown 
To seek to save their own, 
While nations saw their fate 
Sure destined by their swords 
Wait while he played with words 
As boys would toss their toys. 
Still would he not confess 
The mess he'd made. 
Still with his words he played 
While blazed the front. 
And sought with "merely" to make blunt 
"Unless.'"' 



26 



CONCESSIONAL 



"Who therefore seeks in these 
True wisdom finds her not." 



Thou who with ceaseless watch and ward 
Doth curb unruly tongue and pen, 
Who poulticeth with silences 
The fevers of our pubHc men, 
All Silent One, do not forget ! 
He'll do it yet. He'll do it yet. 

The Tumultys and Bakers go. 
The Houses and the Creels depart. 
Still stands against the cunning foe 
The Nation's little apple-cart, 
Down at the tail but not upset ! 
He'll do it yet. He'll do it yet. 

Bluff called, the echoes fade away. 
Amazed the people still inquire 
Why phrases of but yesterday 
But served to light the kitchen fire. 
All Silent One, do not forget! 
He'll do it yet. He'll do it yet. 

If drunk with sight of power he think 
That Truth be visioned in mere dizziness, 
God! dam the ceaseless flow of ink, 
And teach him how to mind his business. 
All Silent One, do not forget! 
He'll do it yet. He'll do it yet. 

For loyal hearts with will to serve, 
Hot with the flames of righteous wrath. 
For willing feet that will not swerve 
From their appointed chosen path, 
From foolish phrase and paltering word 
Thy Mercy on Thy People — Lord. 

Ameti. 



THE WAR GARDEN 



"This Garden, planted with the trees of God." 



An owner of rich fields 

Thought much on war and gardening, 

And though debarred by years 

From overseas activities 

Was keen to do at home 

What in him lay. 

Mindful of an adjacent training camp 

Where drilled his son 

That he in turn might drill 

A Hun, 

"I too can give 'em beans," 

He said, 

And settled on that lentil for his crop, 

And its high destiny 

The Cantonment. 

War beans they were to be. 

Not puny pea, dwarfed, bleached, 

All snapperless. 

But red, of calibre of buckshot, 

Highest caloried. 

Nitrogenous as T. N. T. itself, 

"Mohawk" by name, 

Fit food for v/arriors. 

Then, that success might be assured, 

Applied he to the Government 

For one high-schooled in beans 

To take full charge. 

Down came post haste in answer to his call, 

High browed and spectacled, 

One of the chosen ones grown wise enough 

In culture of the fields 

To drop the ferrule of the pedagogue 

And turn to making hay 

While shone the Democratic sun. 

This one professed 

That he knew beans 

From pole to pod, 

A veritable Bachelor of Beans, 



28 



And entered on his ministry. 

To such an one there is no higher joy 

Than backing his own visions 

With another's cash. 

Soon in the fields appeared the latest things 

In tractors, harrows, plows ; 

Manures, phosphates, nitrates, 

Condiments so rich 

As well nigh to impoverish 

The one who pays for them. 

While on the sward close by their boundaries 

Sprung up the tents 

Of scouting boys and girls, 

Fair farmerettes and tired business men, 

Where shrill Victrolas shrieked 

"The Long Long Trail" and "Over There" 

From "Colors" on to "Taps." 

Thanks to one Hiram, 

And another. Josh, 

Who'd served the owner of the fields 

And them 

Some thirty years 

The seed was sown, 

And with its latent energies set free 

Up swift the Mohawks sprung 

As if from ambuscade 

Or as the fabled crop from dragon's teeth. 

In the fierce warfare with their enemies, 

Moth, rust, and blight 

And all the other fifty-four varieties 

Of ills the flesh of beans is heir to 

Did they prevail, 

And in due course were harvested 

And fared them on their way 

To serve their destiny. 

Stowed in the latest thing in motor trucks, 

Professor at the wheel. 

Such was his pride in them 

His first ripe fruits of Victory 

It well had seemed 

He'd turned from Bachelor 

To fatherhood. 



29 



Uplifted was he 

As he dwelt upon the words, 

Few but well chosen, 

Which would advise the Commissary 

Of the rare gift 

Straight from the soil of Liberty, — 

And some few little things like that. 

For now the gift had come to seem 

His own. 

Upon the outskirts of the nearby town 

There thrust upon his revery 

The raucous cry of newsboy voicing loud 

The Last Reply, to date. 

To the last Chancellor 

In the last Gabfest Gotterdammerung, 

And putting on the brake 

He stooped and paid, 

And grasped the message of his master's voice. 

Sped on again. 

Eyes biased. 

Entranced by the profundity 

Which could proclaim behind 

Three question marks 

A stern imperative, 

Until the wayward eye quite failed to see 

A STOP, LOOK, LISTEN, sign 

Across a railroad track. 

So in the end did the Professor 

Spill the beans. 

Whereat he who had hired him 

Straight up and fired him. 



30 



HAYFOOT 

"and care 
Sat on his faded cheek but under brows 
Of dauntless courage." 



I guess 

I'm kind of out'er step 
With this here war. 

There wa'n't no use 
In sayin' I'd enhst 

For I'd got born 
Too late for '6i, 

Too soon for '17, 
And though I'll make a day of it 

With any of the boys 'round here 
On coonies, fox or pa'tridges — 

And beat 'em too, — 
They keep a-goin' it 

Day in, day out, 
While I lay off 

Next day. 
'Sides that, 

I couldn't chew a pumpkin pie 
Without my plate, 

And if I busted it 
Bitin' some German 

In the leg, 
I'd starve to death 

Right on their hands. 
So I got shet of that idee 

Right off. 
'Tain't natch'ral either 

For the Perkinses 
Have always been on hand 

In goin's-on like that 
Till me. 

I thought there must be somethin' 
I could do 

While crops was growin' 
To help things along, 

So when those pesky submarines 
Got raisin' hell 



31 



I set a spell 
And thought of a contraption I once see 

A feller usin' fishin' on the lake 
To keep a line off where he wanted it. 

It worked, too, 
So I went and whittled out 

A model of the thing 
And sent it on express 

To Washington. 
I guess it's down there yet 

So far's I know, 
And by gosh 

If I lived a hundred years 
I'd keep on say in' it would do the job 

In proper hands. 
Then Sarah got this knittin' fever, 

Bad, 
And plugged away on sweaters and the like 

To keep the soldiers warm. 
Now any man who's ever run a fox 

And shivered on a runway on a hill 
In January 

Knows 
You'll freeze to death in spite of all the wool 

Off fifty sheep 
When just a jumper 

And a layer of hide 
Will keep you warm. 

So when I see, some back 
They'd took the sheepskin coats 
Off'n the boys in camp 

Say's I, 
Here's somethin' that I KNOW, 

And I wrote a letter showin' plain 
Just how it was 

And sent it on to Washington, 
But somehow I 'ain't heard as how the boys 

Have got their coats again. 
Last Sunday I was glad 

I had on mine- 
My boy come up to say good by 

Before he went to camp 



32 



And brought along a magazine 

That offered a big prize for some new words 

The Country p'raps could use 
For a new song. 

Wal, I've been writin' verses for the Grange 
And funerals and weddin's and such times 

For forty years 
And so I wrote 'em some 

And sent 'em on. 
But somehow I 'ain't heard 

The Country singin' of 'em 
Yet. 
Then there's the 'taters. 

When come spring 
Seed was as high as Haman ever hung, 

But aimin' help along 
I planted all I had 
And went in debt 

For more, 
And put 'em in on new ploughed ground, 
And cultivated 'em, 

And sprayed 'em. 
Fought the bugs 

And barreled 'em. 
And now they stand me in 
Jest forty cents a bushel 

Out. 
One thing I did do, — 

Two things come to think — 
I got two bonds. 

One Sarah's, 

One for me. 
It ain't no job to lend your cash 

Most any time. 
But there ain't no sense talkin', 

If you're goin' to War 
You've gotta GO! 

And seein' as I can't 
I guess I'll jest den up 

And suck my paw. 



33 



THE EGGS 



"Oh Parent, these are thy magnific deeds." 



An hausfrau set a carrion crow 

Upon a clutch of eggs 

Sent down fresh gathered 
From the Hohenzollern farm 

At Junkerfeld, 
Sweet village of the plain 

Of Brandenburg. 

They hatched, 
And wriggled from the slime and broken shells 

Of all save three 

A brood of vipers 

Helmeted with horns, 

And from those three 
A fledgling trinity of vulture breed 

More fierce and foul 
Than any lammergeier of the Alps, 

Hate, Fear, and Frightfulness. 
These did the foster-parent brood 

And cherish to its breast. 
These did the hausfrau, proud and pleased 

To find the stock all thoroughbred 

Feed high on witches' broth 

Of newt and toad and carrion, 

Until at length, full grown. 

She turned them loose 

To feed and sate themselves 

Abroad. 
Forth did they go. 
East, West, to North and South 

On belly or on wing 
And ravaged and laid waste and gorged 
Until their chosen food was gone. 
Then turned they home again , 

To feed. 
And while the hausfrau starves 

She shrieks 

And stops her ears 
Against the murmur of the gliding scales 

And beat of heavy wings. 



34 



THE FOURTH LOAN 



"We war, if war be best, or to regain 
Our own right lost." 



Why talk of sacrificial offerings 

To Victory 

When the high priest has bowed his head 

To Baal! 

Why pledge the country's honor, blood, and gold 

Against a phrase 

That may make waste of all ! 

Why? 

That this People may maintain its vow. 

Despite its phrasemongers and palterers. 

Of righteous retribution 

On the steel spiked heads 

And beat them down. 

So let the People that has stood behind 

Now stand before 

And take this war of theirs 

Into their hands 

And handle it! 



35 



INSURANCE 

"for such another field 

They dreaded worse than Hell." 



What need of Leagues, Alliances and Covenants 

Of peoples freed from Kings 

For Peace ! 

What need of delegates abroad in conference 

For fashioning new laws 

And graving them 

Upon the sands of Time 

When every People holds within its hand today 

Its destiny 

Of Peace or War ! 

Let each enact 

When in the chambers of Democracy 

Men lift their voices up 

In speech of War 

With all its ravings, wavings and phrasemongerings. 

That those of the elect who speak the words 

Shall make them good 

With their own bodies in the forefront line 

Or swallow them. 

And if the great adventuring 

Be one of righteousness 

The Demagogues alone 

Will choke. 



36 



THE VOTE 



"The fairest of her daughters, Eve." 



Our mothers cannot vote ; 

Our daughters will ; 

Friend wife still pairs with us. 

Our sisters are the wives of other men. 

Swathed widows seek heartsease 

In other things. 

But why, with War 

And bargain counter set 

For surcease from the cradle and the stove, 

Seek now the Women People of the land 

This further ferment 

For their own 

With politics adjourned? 

They seek not slaughtered sales 

When stores are closed 

For window dressing 

For the coming day, 

But watch and wait, 

And then rush in 

And storm the marked-down Paradise, 

Taking this home for 

.98 

Or that for 

.49. 

But now the die was cast. 

Fate answered 

"No," 

And fair Columbia 

Mother of us all 

Again was freed 

From slavery. 

What worth had been the prize if gained 

Had it but served to be the precedent 

That even in grim times like these 

One man 

Can come dragooning on a hobby horse 

And over-ride the will 

Of Sovereign States 1 



37 



What were your puny votes to theirs ! 

Let be, 

And when your men come home again 

From battlefield, or camp, or hospital, 

From making the world safe 

Abroad 

They'll make it safer 

Here. 

They who have faced machine guns in their lairs 

And choked them dumb 

Can face a typewriter. 

They who laid low Death's Head Hussars 

Can handle 

Broomstick Cavalry. 

And when rebuilding of the Nation's house 

Shall come 

And in new order of establishment 

Safe shall it stand, 

Their love for you regained. 

Their memory of those who with all lost 

Could give 

Of woman's care and tenderness. 

Their new-born wonder 

At the new-born loyalty and comradeship 

Of all of You 

Will make it sure as sets the sun that day 

Some night they'll bring you home 

A Ballot Box 

With roses wreathed 

And full of chocolates. 



38 



HENRY FORD ENTERS THE SENATE 



"Then stayed the fervid wheels." 



Throttle open, every nut sprung loose, 

(Can you hear the whizzy whirring of the wheels?) 

The Senators sighed sadly and they said 

"What's the use !" 

(Can you hear the whizzy whirring of the wheels?) 

Hennery skidded up the Avenue 

Followed astern by the Peace Ship crew, 

All cranked up and no place to go 

Till Hank got the W^ double O ; 

Honking paeans in the victor's praise. 

Scattering roses from their big bokays. 

(Can you hear the whizzy whirring of the wheels?) 

Then came the Pacifists in full platoons ; 

Pifflers and Palterers and smug Poltroons ; 

Brass-lunged orators and loud-mouthed bluffs; 

White livered whisperers and pussyfoot muffs ; 

Big white feathers in their new silk tiles, 

Faces shining with their greasy smiles, 

Following hot-foot after Hen, 

To get their feet in the trough again. 

(Can you hear the whizzy whirring of the wheels?) 

Hennery braked her at the White House door. 

(Can you hear the whizzy whirring of the wheels?) 

The President was listening and said 

"One more!" 

(Can you hear the whizzy whirring of the wheels?) 

Then said Hen: "Mr. President 

You wrote for to run, so I run, hell bent. 

That Cincinnati feller who left his plow 

He hain't got nothin' on Detroit, I vow. 

When he knocked off for t© go to fight the Turks, 

For I blew the whistle on the whole dern works." 

(Can you hear the whizzy whirring of the wheels?) 

Then said the President "You sure done good. 

I thought my meaning would be understood. 

Now just to save you from the writers' cramp 

May I not present you with this rubber stamp?" 

"Fine," said Hen, "mighty handy too. 



39 



Stampin' is the very best thing- I do. 

I've stamped out Lizzies and I've stamped out boats, 

I've stamped out vice and I've stamped out votes. 

I'll stamp this here on anything you say ; 

I'm the best little stamper in the U. S. A." 

(Can you hear the whizzy whirring of the wheels?) 

Said the President, watching the procession pass, 

"A useful anymile is the ass. 

A few big words and a few soft pats 

And the world grows safer for us Democrats." 

(Can you hear the whizzy whirring of the wheels?) 

When they came under the Capitol dome 

They all united in Home Sweet Home, 

Roaring it up like cannon thunder 

Clean to the roof of the rotunda. 

Until Hen left the joyous din 

And went to the Chamber to be sworn in. 

(Can you hear the whizzy whirring of the wheels?) 

Tom stepped down from the lofty rostrum 

Glad hand out with an "Ecce Nostrum !" 

"Do you solemnly swear to do as you're told? 

All right then ; come into the fold. 

Now you're a seated Senator." 

"Sure," said Hen, "Whadja take me for? 

Speakin' of seats, where's the one I get? 

I've bust a tire and I'd like to set." 

(Can you hear the whizzy whirring of the wheels?) 

Says Tom, "You'll find a vacant chair 

With those good Democrats over there. 

Of course you are non-partisan 

But that gang there is Republican-" 

"I guess," said Hen, " 'Twould be more my style 

If I squat right down in the middle of the aisle." 

(Can you hear the whizzy whirring of the wheels?) 

When he had come to the appointed spot 

Says Hen, "Boys, here's a little speech I've got. 

I stamped it out just before I come 

And it's a humdinger too, by gum !" 

Soon as Hennery began to read 

The Senators started on a mad stampede 

Each one dashing for the open door 

Yielding to Hennery the whole blamed floor, 



40 



All but Tom for the getaway, 

And he, poor devil, was paid to stay. 

(Can you hear the whizzy whirring of the wheels, 

The whizzy lizzie whirring of the wheels?) 



41 



NEW HAMPSHIRE 



"Till by two brethren . . . sent from God to claim 
His people from enthralment they return." 



Hold fast, New Hampshire ! 

Praises be 

That still your granite hills 

Which gave to build 

The Plymouth sands 

Have kept sufficient grit in them 

To serve your freemen and yourself 

When turned they quick 

Beneath the foot of Liberty 

When sought she them again! 

More praises be 

That still New England has the backbone 

Standing stiff 

Where liand of God erected it for time of need 

With politics regained ! 

Let Washington. 

Aye, Jefferson, 

Proclaim your honor bright 

With beacon lights, 

And with them on your path. 

The Keyes to Wisdom's treasure house in hand 

And your own chosen Moses guiding you, 

Seek you the Promised Land of leadership 

In Truth ! 



43 



OLD PAPERSIDES 



"My voice thou oft hast heard and hast not feared." 



Aye, tear the Constitution up ! 
What is it between friends 
But frayed and faded fussiness 
That stays us from our ends ! 
Down with such outworn paper scraps 
With Emperors and Kings ! 
Long Hve the Demautocracy 
The Newest Freedom brings ! 

Let Senators in silence sit 

While some old moss-back prates 

Of Bill of Rights and Articles 

And Sovereignty of States. 

Let Legislatures rage and roar 

At lost prerogative 

They say they only meant to yield 

And not to grant and give. 

What matter little things like these , 
When the All-Wise has planned 
To hold the Nation's fate within 
The hollow of his hand! 
Aye, tear the Constitution up ! 
It makes for party war. 
How can it serve grim times like these 
When one man's will is law ! 

ENVOI 

From Democrats and Demagogues 

Demautocrats evolve 

To press their points upon the world 

And all its problems solve. 

But as the mind dwells on these things 

The legend seems to linger 

Of one who pressed a point too hard 

And found he'd pricked his finger. 



43 



THE SPOILED CHILD 



"He ended frowning, and his look denounced 
Desperate revenge." 



Surrounded with the gifts of all his clan, 

Proud father, mother. 

Grandmothers fond to foolishness, 

Uncles and aunts, by blood or by brevet. 

Sat the spoiled child. 

King in his father's house. 

High on the painted walls of germproof nursery 

An endless file of fat white ducks 

Paraded in their waddling processional. 

Below 

Young Peter Rabbits skipped behind the bright array 

Of flags of foreign lands 

With Stars and Stripes 

Above the Bed of State. 

Here was the Throne. 

There the arrayed appliances 

Of toilet table for the Grand Levee. 

Fruits and confections rare 

Lay stored at hand for him 

And princely robes of wool and silk 

Or diaper. 

Here stood the flaring instrument 

Through which his Merry Man 

And Fiddlers Three 

Might seek to win his smile 

And friendly audience. 

Here was his library of pictured scrolls 

And tablets cubeiform of wood. 

Here were his fighting men. 

Horse, foot, dragoons and guns. 

Here lay his naval armament 

Careened, 

And here his airplane fallen to the earth 

Beside the trackage for his special train 

Derailed 

In fierce collision with the new red motor car. 

While in a corner stood his Arab steed 



44 



Unexercised and eating off his head. 

Here ebon Dinah sat, 

Duenna of the pink-cheeked white-trash odalisques 

Who had supplanted her, 

With button eyes fixed grim 

Upon the prostrate form of one in khaki clad 

Who seemingly like amorous Arabian 

Had sought to love and die. 

Gorged but not sated 

Cried he still for more. 

And howling like an infant catamount 

Slapped the sad face of her who gave him life 

Because she would not let him choke himself 

Upon a sugar tit. 



45 



THE PIE 

"Taste this, and be henceforth among the gods." 



At the Thanksgiving table of the world 

Sat the grim keeper of the boarding house 

Intent upon the serving of the new mince pie 

Of Peace. 

Counting with frowns the noses 'round the board 

She cut 

As Rhadamanthus would 

According to her will, 

First into fourteen segments, 

Then four more. 

Then five. 

And placed the sweetmeat in the housemaid's hands 

To pass the mangled fragments 

Of her equity. 

Whereat young Tommy, 

Speaking for himself 

And Tony and Gaston 

Said with a grin, 

"Thanks awfully old dear, 

We're quite fed up 

And are not taking any." 



46 



**THE REAL COLOITEL HOUSE" 



"Armed with Hell flames and fury." 



The human eye will only see 
In me a man of Destiny 
Sent to our great democracy 
To save it from its fall, 
And by my skilled diplomacy 
Wrapt in its veils of secrecy 
Maintain its due supremacy, — 
But that ain't me at all ! 

For I'm a Texan bold and free ! 

Yip! Yip! Yip! 

The ranger's is the life for me ! 

Hip! Hip! Hip! 

I love the joys of border strife 

With smoking gun or bowie knife ! 

Oh hully gee ! That is the life ! 

Zip ! Zip ! Zip ! 

With Emperors and Kings I lunch. 
With Premiers and all that bunch, 
And hand 'em all the latest hunch 
I've had on their affairs. 
But though they never seem to see 
A thing the way it looks to me 
The President and I agree, 
So who in Texas cares ! 

For he's with me and I'm with him. 

Yip! Yip! Yip! 

My other name is Whispering Slim. 

Hip ! Hip ! Hip ! 

If I can't knock the steerin' gears 

Off all them other Texas steers 

I'll be bucked off and buy the beers ! 

Zip ! Zip ! Zip ! 



47 



I fixed the war so now I'll grease 

The fourteen wheels of Perfect Peace 

And fix some laws so wars shall cease 

Forever and a day. 

So I shall be a resident 

Of gay Paree while I invent 

A League that wants a President 

Who'll do just as I say. 

But I'm a Texan bold and free ! 

Yip! Yip! Yip! 

The ranger's is the life for me! 

Hip! Hip! Hip! 

Then back to Texas I shall hie 

And die as all good rangers die 

And in my boots and spurs I'll lie. 

R.I.P. R.LP. R.I.P. 



48 



THE PUBLICISTS 



"A solemn coiincil forthwith to be held 
At Pandemonium." 



With Dove returned again 

From clearing- skies, 

Emerge the Publicists 

Like woodchucks from their holes, 

Noses a-twitter. 

Furtive eyes alert 

For sniff or sight of lurking danger near 

And popping back again, 

Or finding peace assured 

Up on to tail 

To chatter to the Universe. 

No minds or business of their own 

They set them up to mind 

The business of the world, 

Flinging a billion here, 

An harvest there, 

Pawing the fragments of a shaken continent 

As idiots delight 

In jigsawed puzzledom. 

Within the galaxy that seeks to shed its light 

High, self-exalted, sit 

The long-haired men 

And short-haired women folk 

The whole world's massed artillery alone 

Could still. 

Come forth again 

To find blood-brothers 

In the Bolsheviks 

And milk of human kindness 

In a Kurd. 

With them grim-visaged virgins sit. 

Come from the cooking of their mid-day calories 

On patent oilless lamps 

In lonely kitchenettes. 

Wise in their utter ignorance of all 

That might have made them worth 

Their keep. 



49 



Yet holding themselves out 

As ones most fit and formulaed 

For universal motherhood. 

Here those who prate 

As patriots 

And flaunt the flag they wave 

Above their own self-seeking heads 

In touching it, 

Yet seek to bear the glory of it forth 

As standard bearers 

For the world. 

There brood the bloodless intellectuals 

All body less, 

Who needs must claim to brains 

Or stand in Bankruptcy 

To Life. 

At hand with these 

Those who with shiny eyes 

Upon the Social Evil fixed, 

Gloat over it 

And find it private good 

For what obsesses them 

In secret thoughts and picturings, 

Canting obscenities in pseudo-science phrase 

And hounding down 

The promenading prostitute 

Whose chiefest sin was 

That she would have none of them. 

Here those so drunk with spiritual arrogance 

No lesser stimulant will serve their needs. 

And claiming to be 

Prohibitionists 

Make desert places where the vineyards were 

And seek by a New Miracle 

To turn red wine 

To ditchwater. 

Here sit in high degree 

With liars, plain and damned, 

The statisticians, abacus in hand. 

Telling its beads 

As priests upon their rosaries, 

Prepared to put the Q. E. D. 



50 



To any ass's bridge. 

With lights so dim and fogged 

Let us cross none at all 

Until we come to them 

But stagger on in faith 

As we were wont to do. 

And see things in the light 

That may be given us 

As it was wont to be. 



51 



THE SPIDER 



"Whence and what art thou, execrable shape?" 



Like spider fallen in the cheapened mucilage 

With which our stamps and envelopes 

Are sparsely smeared 

For future loss or opening, 

With hooks and claws upstuck 

And clogged for functioning 

He crawls within the web 

Of tangled cables, wires crossed, lines wireless, 

Star routes and routes beneath the stars, 

In which he makes his lair. 

One line alone runs straight, 

Down Pennsylvania Avenue 

Thereto, 

From never ceasing clicking typewriter 

To ever listening ear 

Attuned harmonious 

To every hint 

Of still more v^^ire entanglements, whereon 

The freedom of the Nation's speech 

May be impaled 

And make the world more safe 

For Demautocracy. 

This high resolve in mind. 

At idle times 

He listens in on other private lines 

Which, found vibrating inharmonious. 

He disconnects. 

And hands the excommunicated ones 

To the Attorney-General. 

Secretly serviceable spies. 

Detectives and inquisitors 

Bring him, Special Delivery, 

The well steamed mail. 

Abated or delayed. 

Of those marked down suspect 

Of Non-Conformity, 

Or lovers' kisses cabled in a code 

For stern deciphering. 



52 



The wires flutter full 

Of victims 

Yet he seeks 

To spread the web still tighter 

On the land 

Until at length 

With public service turned 

To public servitude. 

Master and man may rest 

And be content. 



53 



THE NEW FREEDOM 



"A cry of Hell-hounds never ceasing barked." 



The Kings are dead ! 

Long live the Bolsheviks ! 

Those other Hairy Ones 

Who keep the flames of Liberty alive 

With castles, shrines, and factories 

And bombs 

The while our gentle Goddess-down-the-Bay 

Exalts her puny torch. 

Itself paid tribute to the Minotaur 

Of Capital. 

Now let us salvaged Democrats proclaim 

The Verities, 

Our Freedom Absolute 

With theirs 

On land as on the seas, 

Each one to be his brother's judge 

And executioner 

At will 

In case his sense of equity be dull 

And he refuse to share with us 

His wife and goods 

In equal opportunity of love and squandering. 

That is the life ! 

And having drained it to the dregs 

Upon the well worked world 

Let us lie down, drunk equally 

And die, 

And free our rotted souls in the equality 

Of Time 

And Space. 



54 



BARNEY BARUCH 



"From what consummate virtue I have chose 
This perfect man." 



Barney Baruch, what is this that we're hearin' now, 

Lavin' the bulls and the bears a-careerin' now, 

Droppin' yer shears in the midst o' the shearin' now, 

All fer a job fer a dollar a year? 

Barney Baruch, tell us what is the mystery ; 

How come ye sittin' there in the consistory 

Lavin' the ticker to go makin' history ! 

Oi, yer the knowin' one, Barney me dear ! 

Lave the byes in on it ! 

There'd be no sin on it. 

Sure, and they'd win on it, 

Backin' yer luck. 

Here's to the plootocrat! 

Here's to the noovocrat ! 

Yer the foine Dimocrat, 

Barney, me buck! 

Barney, we're done with the war and the fightin' now. 

Look on the wall and ye'll see some more writin' now 

Tellin' ye plain that ye soon will go kitin' now, 

Rattlin' round loike the peas in a pod. 

Barney Baruch, what the hell are ye doin' there! 

Barney Baruch, don't ye see trouble brewin' there! 

You and the loikes of ye'll make wreck and ruin there. 

Sure we have had enough of ye, be God ! 

It's the high climb ye had ; 

It's the foine time ye had; 

Now out ye go me lad 

Back to yer push. 

We'll do the best we can 

With an American 

More on the good ould plan, 

Barney Baruch ! 



55 



READJUSTMENT 



"Oh glorious trial of exceeding love." 



With peace declared, one Jack 

A gob, 

Came back from raging main 

And found a Jane 

Was holding down his job. 

So what to do with him 

Now Uncle Sam was through with him. 

While Boards, Commissions, Statisticians 

Fought and wrangled 

And got their red tape and themselves 

Tied up and tangled 

Jack never tarried. 

And now they are married. 



56 



ON PARADE 



"Pursue these sons of Darkness, drive them out." 



^What are the bugles playing for? Who's havin' the 
parade? 

"The Fightin' Nint's come home again," the color ser- 
geant said. 

"An' who is that a-leadin' 'em up there behind the band?" 

"It's Eddie Logan back again, up where he oughter 
stand. 

They thought they'd put him on the bum 

Back over there in France. 

They took away his epaulettes, 

They took away his pants. 

If Baker'd had his sneaking way 

He'd never had a chance, 

But Eddie Logan's wearin' 'em this mornin'." 

"Where are the boys a-headin' for, a-marchin' on 
parade?" 

"They've started on a long long trail," the color ser- 
geant said. 

"I never seen 'em totin' packs a-marchin' on parade." 

"They've got a damn long ways to go," the color ser- 
geant said. 

"The're goin' to get Charlie Cole. He's down to City Hall. 

They tried to queer our brigadier, the best one of 'em all. 

And then the're goin' up to pay the Grand Old Man a 
call. 

And start off on the trip tomorrow mornin'." 

"Where are they goin' to from here, a-marchin' on 
parade?" 

"The're goin' west, the're goin' west," the color sergeant 
said. 

"Ain't Leonard Wood out there somewhere commandin' 
a brigade?" 

"The're goin' to bring him home again," the color-ser- 
geant said- 

"For they dirty double crossed him when he tried to 
make 'em start 



57 



To get in line with decent men and let us do our part, 
And now he's out in Kansas a-eatin' out his heart, 
But he'll be feelin' better some fine mornin'." 
"Where are they goin' to from here, a-marchin' on 

parade?" 
"The're goin' down to Washin'ton," the color-sergeant 

said. 
"What are they goin' to do down there, a-marchin' on 

parade?" 
"Clean out the whole damned Bakery," the color-sergeant 

said. 
"For they've seen enough of slackers and they've heard 

enough from clerks ; 
They've fought with God's own fightin' men and know 

'em by their works. 
And little Snootie Baker, the boss of all the shirks, 
Will get what's comin' to 'um in the mornin'." 



58 



THE MIRRORS 



"War seemed a civil thing 
To this uproar; horrid confusion heaped 
Upon confusion rose." 



High through December skies 

Like their own snowflakes flying on the wind 

Wing the white doves of Peace 

Foregathering palaceward 

Where the Black Eagle hatched 

Its monstrous egg. 

Below them 

On the wreck strewn seas 

Swift ships surge on the way 

With flying banners, 

Flaming lights, 

And bands a-blare 

In joyous junketting 

Where all so recently 

Reigned silence and the blackness of the night. 

Or sounded shots and shrieks. 

Through shellpocked fields. 

Past shattered skeletons and ghosts 

Of homes 

Rush roaring engines 

Training palaces 

In mock of them ; 

Refectories with birds and bottles stored 

Where famine stalked ; 

Well lighted offices 

Replete with clerks and copyists. 

Pale faces peering forth through window panes 

To see where heroes died 

Beneath the sky. 

And in these ships and trains come 

Men 

To pass upon the problems of the world. 

But first 

To pass before the mirrors in the gallery 

And see themselves 

Where one King saw in his reflected self 



59 



The State; 

Another, 

Death. 

So let these men take heed 

In their own crystal gazing there 

That all that each one sees 

In turning to twist collar or cravat 

In surreptitiousness 

Is but a man, 

In all his weakness 

And his strength ; 

In all his justice 

And his knavishness ; 

In all his wisdom 

And his vanity; 

Alone, 

Save for the Spirit 

Of his native land. 



60 



APPEAL 

**I when no other durst, sole undertook 
The dismal expedition." 

Stay, brother Demos of the flaming heart 

With torch of Liberty in hand ! 

Stay ! 

Hast thou then given the once over 

All so recently 

To thine own old home town 

And found all's well 

That thou dost fare thee forth 

To cast thy light 

On Timbuctoo 

And Samarcand? 

Dost thou, unlearned in tongues, 

Dare rush into the Babel of the world 

To wag thine own 

In fevered phrases 

Indeterminate 

And definitions 

Of the undefinable? 

Hast it in mind 

To enter thy Leviathan 

And cross the seas 

As Jonah did 

To utter prophesies ? 

Art thou so apt and versed 

In thy geography 

That thou canst give in winged words 

The metes and bounds and capital 

Of Oklahoma 

Here at home 

That thou shouldst seek to toy 

With ancient monuments, 

And set up citadels 

Abroad ? 

Hast ever marvelled why the brotherhood 

Of Damon and his Pythias 

Has stood remarkable? 

Dost thou not know the brotherhood 

Of men 

Though brothers born 



6i 



Must be assured 

Ere Nations glow with it? 

Dost thou not know 

That what through thine own spectacles 

Is visioned Truth 

Through those of other men as wise 

Is foolishness? 

What are thy godlike attributes 

To let thee plead 

And serve as arbiter 

Upon thy cause? 

Stay> brother, stay ! 

Turn in thy transportation overseas 

And turn thyself 

To kindred subjects nearer to thy hand. 

In thy solicitude 

For lesser nationalities, 

Now in the coming year 

Let the poor weak minority 

Within this greater one 

Work out its destiny in self-development 

Autonomous 

And have a look-in now and then 

Upon the Nation's business 

Vouchsafed with kindly smile 

And jovial word- 

If thou wouldst render colonies 

To Caesar 

Back again. 

Transplant those settled in our midst 

From fair Hibernia 

And send them home to her 

To rule Brittania 

As they would rule us. 

If thou wouldst succor Poles 

And make them free 

Or further license 

Bolsheviks, 

Seek out the sweat shops where they toil 

In bondage 

To their Jewish overlords. 

If seekest thou the freedom of the seas 

Make thou the trip to Coney 

Free 



62 



And there suspend the fees 

That cleanliness must pay 

To prudery. 

Wouldst have free trade? 

See to it that the apple woman sits 

And earns her pittance 

Without tax imposed 

By the patrolman's petty larcenies, 

And let the smiling sons 

Of Greece and Italy 

Push their perambulating fruiteries 

Free 

From tribute paid 

To Tammany. 

Seekest thou Brotherhood 

With thou 

The biggest, wisest brother 

In the company? 

This too is at thy hand. 

Seek thou as midnight peals 

One of those myriad caravansaries 

Upon the Great White Way 

Most bright 

When blackest is the night, 

And sitting in with some chance group 

Of thirsty free Americans 

Purvey them beverages 

Freehandedly. 

When tolls the parting knell 

And feet uncertain set upon 

Their devious paths 

Each man of them 

Will clasp you to his breast 

In brotherhood ! 

Surely, but thou wilt stay 

For this ! 

Thou wiltest not? 

Farewell ! 




63 



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